Many hands work together to make Lake Samm shine!

The makeover continues! State Parks, along with friends and local community, have a vision and plans in place for Lake Sammamish State Park to be a signature site for celebrating and protecting urban natural areas.

The latest development is a brand-new, 10,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art playground area at the park in Issaquah. When they get a glimpse of this playground, kids 2 to 12 take off on a full run toward fun! Highlights include an 8-foot-tall Great Blue Heron sculpture overlooking the playground plaza, a mushroom-toadstool house, clubhouse, zip line, mountain climb, music station, swings, slides and spinning things.

The $1.1 million project was funded by a Department of Commerce grant and supported with $250,000 raised by the dedicated Friends of Lake Sammamish State Park. In-kind donations of materials and services, along with hundreds of hours of volunteer assistance, made it all come together.

The playground is the third in a string of projects completed. The park’s boat launch was renovated and a fully accessible boardwalk installed at Issaquah Creek in 2013. Sunset Beach Bathhouse, opened in summer of 2015, is a $2.5 million green structure that includes solar panels, a living roof of plants, rainwater collectors and beautiful reclaimed redwood siding, as well as outdoor showers, covered picnic area and outdoor seating for small events. Next up: new sand and improvements along the lakefront sidewalk, as well as boating and fishing docks.